From the Washington Post:
There has been zero net job creation since December 1999. No previous decade going back to the 1940s had job growth of less than 20 percent. Economic output rose at its slowest rate of any decade since the 1930s as well.
Middle-income households made less in 2008, when adjusted for inflation, than they did in 1999 — and the number is sure to have declined further during a difficult 2009. The Aughts were the first decade of falling median incomes since figures were first compiled in the 1960s.
And the net worth of American households — the value of their houses, retirement funds and other assets minus debts — has also declined when adjusted for inflation, compared with sharp gains in every previous decade since data were initially collected in the 1950s.
“This was the first business cycle where a working-age household ended up worse at the end of it than the beginning, and this in spite of substantial growth in productivity, which should have been able to improve everyone’s well-being,” said Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank.
Those are facts — which have a liberal bias, I know. Seriously, what are the conservative / teaparty / Republican voters thinking — that MORE tax cuts, loopholes and subsidies are going to create a job? How many more decades will have to pass before they stop falling for it? My guess: we’ll all be eating Soylent Green and living in Thunderdome by the time the GOP base wakes up.
Guess who ‘creates jobs’? It’s not the rich and powerful. It’s the working- and middle-class WITH THEIR PAYCHECKS. The job creators are the customers, who drive more business, who drive more jobs to fulfill a demand. When there are no paychecks, there’s no money to spend, no demand — no new jobs are necessary. Which brings us to the unemployment figures we have today.
And by extending tax cuts to the wealthy — which were to be temporary — the only way to make up for a lack of federal tax revenue is by cutting programs and services that the rest of us depend on. The Republican base needs to snap out of it.
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I recently wrote an angry e-mail to my Republican state representative pointing out that the Republicans refuse to raise taxes on “job creators.” The only problem with there premise is that a decade of Bush tax cuts hasn’t produced any jobs. I had no figures to provide, but I was pleased to read this article which confirmed my open minded observation.
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The WashPost author tries to make the case that the Bush tax cuts did not create any jobs by stretching the reporting period over the entire decade. However, those of us who recall that era remember that the first Bush tax cut was not passed until 2002, and the second in 2003. Neither tax cut was fully phased in until 2005.
If you look at the second chart that the author presents, the line graph, it puts the lie to the bar chart that he wants to hang his hat on. An analysis of the line graph shows upward growth in job creation, starting in 2004-05, as the Bush tax cuts were starting to have an impact on the economy. The job growth continued until 2008, when the subprime mortgage meltdown took the economy over the cliff. Also in the line chart, you can see the explosive job growth in the 1980s, resulting from the Reagan tax cuts.
So, other than the data presented in the line chart, the author may have a point: “There are lies, damned lies, and then there are statistics.” Or, to quote another famous sage, “Everyone is entitled to their own set of facts!” (Groucho Marx)
This graph?
I’d argue with your view of the line chart above where you say the “explosive job growth in the 1980s resulted from Reagan tax CUTS.” I’d say it resulted from Reagan’s tax increases:
Bruce Bartlett argues against never-ending tax cuts, showing that Reagan passed huge tax cuts during a recession, then took half of them back as the economy expanded:
Compare the dates of both charts.
As far as Bush and his tax cuts, let’s face it — any upward growth in the line chart was just a bubble that burst all over us.
“[A]ny upward growth in the line chart was just a bubble that burst all over us.”
I can’t help it if you refuse to believe that any growth in the economy that happened to occur during a Republican administration is not valid. I believe that your BDS is showing.
Hold up! I didn’t say Reagan’s growth wasn’t valid. I didn’t agree with you on HOW / WHY the growth happened.
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